Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Black protesters recount growing up in a mostly white town

Black Lives Matter protests continued throughout Connecticut Sunday

  • Justice
  • by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
  • June 14, 2020
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas :: CtMirror.org

Naomi Jones speaks at a rally in Waterford Sunday.

When Naomi Jones graduated from Waterford High School three years ago, there were just three dozen black students in her school of 846 students. There was just one black teacher.

She felt isolated, she told a mostly white audience rallying outside Waterford’s town hall Sunday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. For every one moment of joy she experienced, there were five racist comments that followed. One of her teachers told her she would never be a writer. Classmates would make fun of her hair. Others would make comments about her black skin.

“What I want is change,” she said. “Black children’s lives matter. … Check your heart. Have a conversation that makes you uncomfortable.”

Other black men and women who recently graduated high school in this primarily white shoreline town shared similar stories. Some of their mothers cried in the crowd while listening to their children recount what they went through.

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas :: CtMirror.org

Teressa Sharma and Ladonna Wade break down in tears while Naomi Jones shares what it was like growing up in Waterford, a town where just 3% of the residents are black.

Jacki Rabe Thomas · Naomi Jones at Waterford Black Lives Matter rally

Kobe Haley remembered being questioned trying to get into the recreation center as if he didn’t deserve to enter. His white friends never faced those questions, he said.

He was also regularly followed by the police in town, he said.

“Why does being a Waterford resident mean being white?” Haley asked the crowd. “Waterford police department: You’re not Border Patrol.”

The protestors walked to the town’s police headquarters and bowed on one knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time a police officer kneeled on George Floyd’s neck in Minneapolis on May 25, a death that was catalyst for the current Black Lives Matter protests.

While police from other towns joined protestors during the 8:46 kneel, no uniformed police did so in Waterford on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a hearse covered with stickers of names of black people killed by police officers rested nearby.

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas :: CtMirror.org

A hearse with some of the names of black men and women killed by the police.

Beyond Waterford, there were at least 10 other protests throughout the state Sunday, mostly in predominantly white towns, as the nation reacted to the death of yet another unarmed black man gunned down by police officers. Rayshard Brooks’s death in Atlanta was ruled a homicide on Sunday. There were protests in New Haven, as well as in front of the governor’s residence in Hartford and one in Gov. Ned Lamont’s hometown, Greenwich. Lamont did not attend any rallies this weekend, a spokesman said.

Back in Waterford, most of the 1,000 or so protest attendees wore face masks, a reminder of the ongoing health pandemic, which is disproportionately killing black people nationwide.

A protestor held a sign that read, “We are suffering from two pandemics: COVID-19 and racism.”

In Connecticut, black people are 2.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people. On Sunday, state officials announced 15 more people had died from the virus, two of them black residents. This brings the state’s total coronavirus death toll to 4,201. There are still 205 people hospitalized for the virus, a 28-person decrease from Saturday. Connecticut has seen 45,088 positive COVID-19 cases overall.

At the end of the protest in Waterford, Luther Wade held a megaphone and gave his mostly white audience orders.

“Vote. Hold your elected officials accountable,” he told them and then raised his voice: “No justice.”

The crowd responded, “No peace.”

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas :: CtMirror.org

Luther Wade chants “No Justice, No Peace” into a megaphone while leading the Black Lives Matter protest in Waterford Sunday.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas is CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter and an original member of the CT Mirror staff. She has won first-place awards for investigative reporting from state, New England, and national organizations. Before joining CT Mirror in late 2009, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. She has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and the Toledo Free Press. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
CT teachers are expected to get vaccinated for COVID at local clinics, but other options could cause problems
by Dave Altimari

School employees could end up on two lists, which means some vaccine might go to waste, officials said.

Equity issues dominate hearing on Lamont’s marijuana bill
by Kelan Lyons and Mark Pazniokas

The administration's testimony took up the hearing's first five hours. More than 130 people are signed up to speak.

Black and Hispanic residents continue to be vaccinated against COVID at lower rates than white residents
by Kasturi Pananjady and Jenna Carlesso

Among those 65 and older, the rate of vaccination for white residents was 39%, compared to 21% for Black residents.

As mass vaccination centers take the lead in the COVID race, the push is on to reach the most vulnerable
by Dave Altimari

While mass vaccination sites have helped overall vaccination rates, they have not reached the state's most vulnerable populations.

Governor says frustrations with vaccine rollout should be with CDC guidelines
by Adria Watson

Lamont also said 30,000 doses of new J&J vaccine could arrive next week

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Opinion Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

Opinion COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Opinion Three fallacies and the truth about vaccines
by Kerri M. Raissian, Ph.D. and Dr. Jody Terranova

Connecticut’s Public Health Committee recently heard public testimony regarding HB6423 and SB568 --  bills that would remove the religious exemption (the medical exemption would rightfully remain in place) from vaccination in order to attend school.  The religious exemption allows parents to effectively opt their children out of vaccines. In doing so, these families can still send their children to Connecticut’s schools, daycares, colleges, and camps.  This places other children at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable illnesses, and it is imperative the Connecticut legislature remove this exception.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO